Lending crowdfunding is a mode of raising capital through which businesses borrow directly from a multitude of online investors, bypassing traditional financial intermediaries such as banks. Learn all about lending crowdfunding.

In this article we will focus on practical examples of reward crowdfunding campaigns, to understand in what cases this type of capital raising is useful and what strategies are successful.

When to do lending crowdfunding

As we elaborated on in our article on comparing equity and lending crowdfunding, the latter is a mode of raising capital that is more suited to companies with a minimum history than startups. This is primarily because in order to assess the debt sustainability and risk level of the eventual loan, platforms in the selection phase need documentation such as financial statements, ratings, and other elements that assume a minimum period of activity. Even if it passes selection, a startup that has not already started generating cash flow would struggle to be able to repay the loan and pay out the interest.

Lending crowdfunding proves particularly useful for supporting different phases of complex actions, for carrying out targeted projects or as a conduit for other financial transactions. Here are some examples of when lending crowdfunding can be a good idea:

• Multi-stage transactions with different funding sources and timing (e.g., real estate transactions)
• Financing of extraordinary activities or side projects related to the main business (e.g., purchase of equipment)
• Refinancing a debt
• Covering temporary liquidity needs with a "bridge" loan (e.g., pending the release of funds from a government loan or tender).

Finally, lending crowdfunding is useful when there is a need to involve a specific category of stakeholders in a business project but without sharing ownership of the business with them, as would be the case with equity crowdfunding.

This mode of raising capital, in conclusion, is attractive to the following types of companies:

• SMEs on the rise
• Startups in the Growth stage or otherwise with regular cash flows 
• Businesses operating in sectors that require significant investment, such as real estate or renewable energy.

Where and how?

The platforms on which it is possible to launch a lending-type campaign are many and growing, as this type of crowdfunding is the fastest growing. Some examples in Italy are Crowdlender, Re-Lender, EvenFi. Examples abroad, on the other hand, are Winwinner in Belgium, Clubfunding in France and Urbanitae in Spain (the latter also active in Italy).

Each platform has its own rules and applies its own lending crowdfunding model, but they all follow the guidelines of the European ECSP Regulation and the Italian ones also the regulations of Consob and Banca d'Italia: find all the details in the article dedicated to the lending crowdfunding platforms.

We now come to the best way to learn how to do lending crowdfunding: examples of those who succeeded, with their strengths and strategies adopted. While it is true that each crowdfunding campaign is an experience in itself, varying according to the characteristics of the company and its target audience, it is also true that there are marketing elements that cannot be missing from any crowdfunding strategy, as well as rules that necessarily guide financial choices.

Real Estate Lending Crowdfunding: examples

The most successful sector for lending crowdfunding is real estate. In the article on real estate crowdfunding we explained at length the reasons for this success: the advantages of lending crowdfunding intersect perfectly with the needs of complex real estate transactions. That is why many of the companies that represent examples of successful real estate lending crowdfundingcampaigns have used this tool several times.

Edileco

Edileco is a company specializing in environmentally friendly construction and renovation. It has used lending crowdfunding on Crowdlender to finance numerous operations and raise more than 800,000 euros: the redevelopment of a hotel to be transformed into a sustainable, people-friendly residential and hotel center, the modernization of a 1960s apartment building to make it safer and more efficient, and the energy and structural upgrading of another apartment building.

Edileco's repeated experience shows how lending crowdfunding is an efficient tool for raising capital quickly and in a targeted way: the company has taken advantage of the ability to customize campaigns to suit its needs, dividing the various collections into several tranches, so that the first capital can be obtained quickly and subsequent amounts can be unlocked from time to time. This allows activities to be carried on steadily, rather than having to wait until the end of one long campaign to obtain all the capital and start work.

Edileco's lending crowdfunding campaigns have offered interest rates between 8 percent and 10.5 percent. To incentivize the investment of large sums of money and the retention of investors , the firm provided an increased interest of 0.5% for investments over €5,000 and an additional 0.5% for recurring investors who participated in multiple tranches of fundraising. Earlier campaigns, thus, became a valuable source of support for later ones, enabling efficient efforts.

Glab Construction

A similar experience is that of Glab Costruzioni, part of the Gabetti Group, which in 2023 raised 5 million euros on Recrowd for the redevelopment and energy efficiency of apartment buildings in several Italian cities. This operation is part of a lasting partnership that has seen the group already carry out 7 lending crowdfunding campaigns on Recrowd.

Marble Idea

Another interesting project that also found a home on Crowdlender is that of Marble Idea, a manufacturing company specializing in material processing. This project gives us an insight into another use of lending crowdfunding: ““bridge financing." Marble Idea, in fact, had won Invitalia's NextAppennino tender in 2023 for the revitalization of the earthquake-stricken regions of Central Italy.While waiting for funds from the tender, the company launched a lending crowdfunding campaign to obtain capital (1 million euros) in a short time and avoid slowing down development projects. The campaign looked very attractive to investors because the incoming call funds were placed to guarantee the repayment of the lent capital.

Tecnobrias

Risk limitation is a constant in the strategy of construction companies proposing lending crowdfunding real estate transactions, not only in Italy. An example of this is a recent transaction by the Spanish portal Urbanitae. Tecniobrias is a group that has carried out several campaigns on this portal, and for the latest one, related to the development of housing units in Santander, it presented potential investors with low commercial risk, with 100% of the units already under purchase and sale agreement, and firm timelines, with building permits already obtained and work already at 40% progress.

Under the Sky Ltd.

Not only large construction companies: smaller players are also resorting to real estate lending crowdfunding. One example is Sotto il Cielo srl, an accommodation facility located in Basilicata (Italy), which, in order to finance the renovation of some areas of the property, launched a lending crowdfunding campaign on the Re-Lender portal. It raised €100,000 and investors were offered an interest rate of 10 percent per year. The attractiveness of the deal leveraged, among other things, the partners' surety bond that covered the loan.

Renewable Energy and Lending Crowdfunding: Examples

Another area in which lending crowdfunding is very successful is renewable energy and related infrastructure. This is, in fact, a sector that requires large investments, requires them in a timely manner, is of collective interest, and often involves operations with strong roots in an area.

Edison

It was precisely on the last mentioned element that Edison based its operation, which launched a lending crowdfunding campaign on Crowdlender to finance the construction of a new hydroelectric power plant in Quassolo, in the province of Turin, soliciting the participation of local citizens. To do so, it offered higher interest to residents who invested in the project, leveraging the chance to do something concrete for the energy transition in their own area. The campaign raised 300,000 euros in just 20 days and contributed to the construction of a hydroelectric power plant that meets the energy needs of 3,000 households, avoids the emission of about 3,300 tons of CO2 each year, and has created a link between Edison and an area.

TSE

Another example related to rootedness on the ground comes from France: the Lendosphere portal hosted the lending crowdfunding campaign of TSE - Energue de Confiance, an independent solar power producer that has begun construction of a solar power plant in Prauthoy to supply an agricultural cooperative with electricity through a 20-year firm rate purchase agreement.

CO-VER Power Technology SpA

CO-VER Power Technology SpA, on the other hand, is an ESCo (Energy Service Company) in Verbania that exploited the bridge-financing concept in a different way than we described in the previous section. To help finance the expansion of a trigeneration power plant in Novara, Italy, which produces combined electric, thermal, and cooling energy, CO-VER Power Technology ran a campaign simultaneously on two platforms: Ener2Crowd and Walliance. On the first portal, it raised over 1.2 million euros from 754 investors, offering an annual rate of 10% and repayment of principal in 3 years. On the second portal it has raised over €550,000 with the same conditions. The project will result in annual savings of 20,000 MWh of natural gas, equivalent to the avoidance of 4,000 tons of CO2 emissions. 

Emerging countries

Finally, a peculiarity of the energy field is the blossoming in Europe of lending crowdfunding portals promoting sustainability and energy transition operations in emerging countries: we interviewed the CEO of one of these portals in a webinar. A recent example is the campaign for Forestal Collicura, a farm committed to the responsible exploitation of forest resources in the Biobio region of Chile. Through the German portal Ecoligo, the company is financing a solar plant to meet its energy needs in a sustainable way.

More examples

Other examples of successful lending crowdfunding demonstrate how this mode of raising capital is also suitable for economic sectors more diverse than the "iconic" ones just described, and how there are different strategies that can be applied to build the most suitable offer for investors and the company.

Centrostampa 2.0 Srl, for example, is a graphic design and communications company that has raised 1.3 million in lending crowdfunding with an interest rate at 9% to upgrade the company's human and technological resources and redevelop the properties it owns. The campaign included a very high minimum investment by crowdfunding standards, namely €5,000. The most important peculiarity, however, is that the first days of bidding were exclusively reserved for the group's directors and partners.

RAP for Group Srl, on the other hand, is a company that runs the Doctor Car body shop in Rimini integrating the car trade with rental, body shop and workshop. It launched three consecutive lending crowdfunding campaigns on the EvenFi portal focusing on an opposite strategy to the one just described: the minimum investment was just 20 euros. As in other cases described above, the capital was secured by a surety bond from the partners.

Crowdfunding for Bonds and Minibonds: examples 

The sphere of debt also includes the placement of Bonds and Minibonds through crowdfunding campaigns. This sphere does not include startups, but rather SMEs or large companies.

Bibione Mare SpA, for example, is a company founded in 1959 that manages public interest tourism activities through a series of interventions on the Bibione Pineda (VE) beach. In December 2023, it placed 3 million euros worth of Minibonds on the Fundera portal, with a 6-year term, floating-rate coupon, and an 80 percent guarantee from the State Guarantee Fund.

A second example comes from abroad: the company Carlotta Italia srl, an Italian vehicle of the French Compagnie de Phalsbourg, has placed Bonds for at least 5 million euros on the French Clubfunding portal to refinance the debt incurred for the acquisition of Palazzo Duodo, a historic property in Venice.